Highly competitive STEM programs are pushing to attract and retain students, increase capacity, and improve student outcomes -- and key to meeting those goals are cross-disciplinary convergence, experiential learning, and collaboration areas, and leveraging the entire building as learning and maker space. In this session, RFD charts the emerging trends, metrics, and layouts for world-class STEM facilities, and the facility design solutions that successfully balance complex building system requirements with inspirational environments for learning and discovery. They identify must-have program-enabling facility elements and profile recently completed projects from across the US, highlighting design and layout strategies and pitfalls to avoid.